Still Waiting
by lostmoonchild
Summary: Takes place two years after "Waiting". The group goes to Kagome's era for a family reunion and while there, the kids have been taken by nightmares from a not too distant past. Can Inuyasha and the others get the kids back before its too late? YYHXInu
1. Prologue

lostmoonchild: I know, I'm mean. I promised that this story would be up and running after a week or maybe a month and it's now January of 2008. I'd simply be procrastinating the story further with an excuse so here's the prologue. I don't own Inuyasha, YYH, or anything else unless I say otherwise so don't sue!

PROLOGUE

A laugh escaped a twelve year old girl's lips as she ran around in circles, a kitsune child chasing after her. "Come on, Shippo! Don't be slow!" Hana cried laughing.

Shippo grinned and jumped at Hana, careful that he didn't cut her with his claws. Laughing, the two fell to the ground and wrestled around. "Hana! Shippo!" Kagome called.

The two jumped off the ground and took off towards the house. "INU-PAPA!" Hana shouted jumping on Inuyasha's back. "PIGGY BACK!"

"Piggy back!" A couple small children around two chanted running around Inuyasha while a third laughed, following his brothers.

"KAGOME! HELP!" Inuyasha shouted about to fall over.

Kagome laughed and watched her mate and their children with an amused look. It was hard to believe that it had been only two years since Naraku's death since everybody seemed to be doing so well. Sango and Miroku had a one year old baby boy they had named Kohaku after the child Sango nearly adopted but lost and the taijiya's younger brother. They were even adopting a little girl that had been named Naomi but the little girl wouldn't be placed in Miroku and Sango's care for a while yet.

Inuyasha and Kagome's own child, Kano, was two years old and full of energy. The two infants they had adopted were named Shuichi and Kage, and were two years old as well. Shippo and Hana both accepted the roles that came with being older siblings and often chased after their little brothers around trying to keep them out of trouble.

"You guys ready to go?" Sango questioned with a smile, laughing when baby Kohaku grabbed Miroku's hair and pulled sharply.

"Yeah, I think so." Kagome said, laughing when Inuyasha fell over. "INUYASHA! Be careful or you're gonna end up landing on one of the kids."

Inuyasha muttered something under his breath and made an innocent face when he got tackled by five kids. "Okay, pups, let's go. Your mom's ready to go." Inuyasha said managing to get up.

Hana smiled a little and picked up Shuichi and said, "We're going to go see your grandma and grandpa. Then we're going to go see your great aunt and our cousin along with their friends and our little cousin who's your age."

Shuichi laughed and squirmed as they all walked to the well. "Hana, you realize that mama did say that your mother is back, right?" Kagome asked with a worried look. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

Hana shook her head a little and said, "You're my mom now, Ka-ka. You always have been, ever since I was a little girl you were my mom."

Kagome smiled a little and nodded a bit showing she was okay. "Alright, honey, if you're sure." Kagome answered, her eyes showing a small amount of worry.

"I'm sure." Hana answered.

Taking a deep breath, they jumped over the side of the well and felt time pull them forward five hundred years.

lostmoonchild: ooh... how will Hana handle her biological mother being back? She sounds so confident but maybe she's trying to fool Kagome. Who knows? Certainly not me. Anyway, read and review, flames are accepted.


	2. Chapter 1

lostmoonchild: I know, I'm so evil!!! I left this story alone for so long that I honestly forgot what I wanted to happen. No fears though (or you can be afraid) cause I'm back (yeah, that'd probably be a good reason to be afraid, lol) and I'm updating the stories as best I can. Since I plan on updating biweekly, Monday's are pretty much a "yeah, I need to update now" day and Thursdays are pretty much the "I probably should have that chapter done so I can catch up... who am I kidding? If I hadn't gotten lazy and forgot about these stories, they'd be done!"

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH so no suing me. Umm... everything else is mine unless otherwise said.

* * *

Chapter One

It had been years since she last laid eyes on the woman and still her image burned very clearly in Hana's mind. The weary look that had dwelled in her eyes before was gone now, but it was replaced by a look of a woman that thought she was doing quite well and had a reputation that was to be feared. "Hana," the woman breathed with a relieved look on her face.

Hana stepped back and hid behind Inuyasha, not wanting to be near the woman just yet. "Auntie, you have to remember that Hana's been without you for a while now. It'll take time for her to get used to you." Kagome said cautiously as if she was afraid of the woman's temper. "You need to let her get used to the idea that you're here now and not push her. Believe me, that won't help anybody."

The woman stared at Kagome for a moment, anger flashing in her eyes for a moment. "Is that your momma, Hana?" Shippo questioned as he jumped up onto his sister's shoulder.

"Uh huh. Her name's Misora."

Misora smiled at the girl before saying, "Honey, you can come home with me now. I met a good man and he's rich. You won't have to work a day in your life."

Inuyasha frowned as he put a hand on Hana's head, keeping her behind him. "Look, lady, I don't care if you're Hana's real mother but you're not taking her away from us." Inuyasha said with a frown. "She's ours now."

Hana clung onto Inuyasha, watching her mother's reaction with slight fear. "Why don't you kids go see what Mama's doing." Kagome suggested. "Hana, Shippo, go take the kids inside."

The two nodded before ushering the younger ones inside. "You stole my daughter." Misora accused as she glared at Kagome.

"I didn't steal Hana from you, Auntie. She wanted to live with Inuyasha and I since she started to think of us as her parents. We take good care of her and she absolutely adores the other kids."

"Well, I can take her now. I got married and he's a good man."

Kagome looked doubtful for a moment before asking patiently, "Is he a good man because he has money or is he actually a good man?"

Anger flashed in the woman's eyes as she glared at the younger woman. "Are you saying that I'm a gold digging whore?" Misora snapped angrily.

"Auntie, that's not what she's saying. If Kags wanted to call you a gold digger, she would have just said it." A familiar voice said with a laugh.

Misora turned and stared when she saw a young man with dancing brown eyes. "Yus-kun!" Kagome said happily as she went over to her cousin and hugged him tightly. "Mmm, I missed you."

Yusuke laughed as he kissed Kagome's forehead, lightly shoving her. "Yeah, me too. Inuyasha been taking care of you? If he ain't, I know this secluded spot in the Makai that we could-"

"Nice to see you too, Yusuke." Inuyasha said with a small nod.

The inu-hanyou wondered if it was normal that the other hanyou's threats didn't bother him in the least. Of course he had married into a strange family so he supposed that there really was nothing normal. Normality, he supposed, sucked big time and completely ignored a select few. "Sango. Miroku. It's good to see you." Yusuke greeted with a grin before yelping when he got hit. "Keiko! They're friends of Kagome's! Geez, why is it every girl that I know has ended up smacking me at some point in time?"

"Because you're an idiot anyway and we decided that we wanted nothing more than to turn you into a punching bag." Kagome answered before hugging Keiko. "Ooh, he got you pregnant again!"

Keiko nodded slightly as she answered, "You want to have a talk with him about getting fixed?"

"Shit, Kei, you know that I'd fix him for free. Just give me a knife and some hardcore alcohol, he'll be fixed in about two minutes flat." She looked at the other woman with an amused look. "Unless you want a rubber band except that'll take a couple of weeks and there's no promises that he'll keep the damn thing on."

"Without chopping everything off." There was an amused expression on Keiko's face that told them that the two women were just playing. "I know the anatomy well enough. It's the thing that gets hard that you want and the things that hang below that that you can live without unless you're aiming for more kids."

Yusuke wrapped his arms around Kagome's waist and picked her up, carrying her effortlessly back to Inuyasha. "Here's your wife." Yusuke said with a laugh as he set the laughing miko back down next to her husband. "I catch her again, I'm tickling her and I shall show no mercy."

Kagome stuck her tongue out at Yusuke, her eyes dancing excitedly as she wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck and rested her head on his shoulder, lightly pressing her body against his. "You two each got married to somebody." Misora said with a surprised look.

"Yep. I'm the one that chased after a hanyou and Urameshi's the one that chased after a ningen." Kagome answered with a grin. "Auntie, these are my and Inuyasha's friends. This is Sango and her husband, Miroku."

Misora nodded slightly before looking at Yusuke. "Where's your mother?" Misora questioned with a small frown.

Yusuke grinned as he rubbed the back of his head, clearly not wanting to say where his mother was. "She's coming." Yusuke said finally. "She just made a detour."

A detour, uh huh. That was a likely excuse coming from the great Urameshi. "How much booze?" Kagome questioned lightly.

"Enough to knock any given soul down."

A few hours later, everybody was gathered inside the house and laughing at the jokes and stories that were told. They even got to meet Souta's girlfriend since the young couple had decided that it'd be like ripping a Band-Aid off. Best do it quick instead of slowly and prolonging the torture.

Inuyasha couldn't help but feel sorry for the young woman as Kagome pulled what Yusuke called the "third degree" on the woman. "She did the same thing to Keiko when we were younger." Yusuke told the other hanyou. "I should have done that to you, but I didn't have any problems with you."

"Kind of hard to have any problems when she's telling you about us, huh?"

"Yeah. Damn bitch. I'm actually almost afraid of Kagome so that's part of the reason why I didn't do anything."

The two males chuckled when the miko was pulled away by her father, hearing the older man tell the miko to leave the poor girl alone. "She's already scared enough by Yusuke, don't add onto it," he warned Kagome.

Kagome grumbled but went to make sure that the children were staying out of trouble. After a few minutes she came back inside and quietly asked Sango something, a look of concern showing on her face. Sango shook her head before leaving the house to look around while Kagome kept asking. "What's wrong?" Yusuke asked with a worried look.

The miko frowned slightly before answering, "The kids… I can't find them. Sango-chan just went outside to look but I don't sense them anywhere."

"WHAT?!"

* * *

lostmoonchild: Uh oh, missing kids. Who took them and where did they go? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure so don't ask me just yet. I'll figure it out by Thursday and I'll have the answer waiting for you all to find. Read and review, flames will be accepted.


	3. Chapter 2

lostmoonchild: Okay, another chapter ready to go. I wasn't really hard pressed to get this chapter finished since I now have an idea of what's going on so yeah. It's all good.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH or anything else unless I claim otherwise.

* * *

Chapter Two

Yusuke Urameshi never claimed that he was good at handling near hysterical mothers. When he had died, he had seen his mother's face as she cried for him and knew that he would never be able to handle a woman crying. Hell, he hadn't even been able to handle either Keiko or Kagome crying and those two got violent when he pushed the wrong button.

Right now he was stuck with three two hysterical mothers while a third just looked calm. "Kags, Sango, it's okay. We'll find the kids and we'll kick the ass of whoever took them." Yusuke promised as he grabbed the phone and dialed a number. "Yeah, Kurama, it's me. Look, we've got a situation at Kagome's so if you can grab Hiei, I'll call Kuwabara and you guys meet us here at the shrine."

Kagome clung to Inuyasha, her tears rolling down her face. Where had the kids gone? Who had taken them without anybody noticing anything out of the ordinary? A demon? Maybe, but she couldn't quite be sure. There were a few demons that were pissed off at the world and didn't want to listen to reason. Hell, there were even a few humans that didn't want anybody with demon blood in them to live in ningenkai.

She could tell easily that Sango was just as upset as she was and that both Inuyasha and Miroku looked irritated at whoever had kidnapped the kids. Clearly whoever it was wasn't going to escape with their lives or in one piece by the time everything was said and done.

Kagome's eyes flickered over to her aunt's face, seeing the calm look in her eyes. One glance at Yusuke confirmed that he was asking the same questions she was. Why was their aunt being so calm about the knowledge that her daughter had just gotten kidnapped? The women in their family weren't good at being unemotional when it came to their kids so there was no way that their aunt would be able to keep that "I don't really care" vibe up for very long.

Even Atsuko, who barely even knew her niece and great nephews, was worried and trying to find out what exactly they could do. "I know this isn't the best time," Yusuke said finally deciding that he'd better find out what's going on, "but I need to ask you guys some questions."

"What the hell? Your own cousins are missing and-"

"Inuyasha, these are important questions that may help us find the kids."

Inuyasha fell silent, going back to comforting Kagome. "What is it?" Miroku questioned as he held onto Sango, trying to soothe her tears.

"Do you guys have any enemies in the Feudal Era that may have a grudge against you?"

None of them answered for a moment, clearly trying to remember. "No," Kagome said finally. "The only one was Naraku but he's dead."

Yusuke frowned slightly before answering, "Is there anybody else that you can think of?"

"Everybody that's tried to destroy the world that we've ultimately killed." Miroku told him.

The sound of the doorbell brought their attention to the door. Quickly, Mrs. Higurashi answered the door and let in three familiar young men. "Kurama." Kagome said as fresh tears rolled down her face.

Kurama gently hugged the miko, careful to keep his hands from going anywhere they weren't supposed to go. "I heard what happened. Don't worry, we'll get them back." Kurama said softly.

While Inuyasha was fully aware of the history his mate had with the fox demon, he was also aware (thanks to Sesshomaru) that some types of youkai were able to sleep with others. Since Muzaku flowed through the miko's veins, Inuyasha knew full well that his mate would be able to sleep with whoever she wanted to. Of course he understood that Kagome and Kurama's relationship didn't work out for some reason or another although he suspected that they were really trying to protect each other when they decided to break up.

He could still tell there was something between the two but thankfully they were both in happy relationships. "Did you guys sense anything?" Kagome questioned with a pleading look.

Kurama and Hiei looked at each other, a silent look of understanding crossing their features. "You didn't tell them?!" Kuwabara demanded with an irritated look as he pulled Yusuke into a headlock.

"Tell us what?" Inuyasha demanded.

Yusuke fidgeted a little before answering, "Last week something happened and…"

"And?" Kagome's voice took on a warning tone as her eyes narrowed. "What. Happened?"

Uh oh, they were entering dangerous territory. "Well, there was a slight problem in Hell and two of the more dangerous guys-"

"Slight?! Slight?! You call two of the most dangerous beings in existence escaping Hell being a slight problem?!"

"WHAT?!" Fury burned in the miko's eyes.

Why did it seem like whenever those four guys were around the miko, she suddenly got angrier quicker? Was there just something about the four of them that she didn't like or was there something deeper? "Well, we're working on getting them back but they're proving to be… difficult." Yusuke said 'difficult' with a tone that told them that there was more.

Inuyasha grabbed his mate and held her against him in an attempt to keep her from punching anybody. "What do you mean by that?" Inuyasha questioned finally.

"One of them is apparently over five hundred years old or around there. How they managed to befriend each other is a wonder but the older one is proving to be adept at escaping."

Kagome's eyes narrowed slightly. "Adept at escaping?" She repeated dangerously. "Tell us, dear cousin, who were they?"

"Well, one of them is Karasu." Kurama visibly shuddered while Kagome's eyes narrowed more. Clearly she knew the history between Kurama and this Karasu character and didn't like the latter.

"I have a bone to pick with that son of a bitch anyway." Kagome said with a snarl.

"And the other?" Sango questioned, her heart growing heavy with fear. Whoever it was, they clearly knew them and obviously had a problem with them.

"You're not going to like it." Yusuke warned.

"Say it."

"The other person is…"

"Is…"

"Naraku."

* * *

lostmoonchild: Oh, shit. I'm actually watching their reactions in my head and I'm seeing a bruise or two. I'm even seeing a couple of trips to find out what exactly is going on so this is bound to be interesting. Read and review, flames will be accepted cause you guys are just so great.


	4. Chapter 3

lostmoonchild: Okay, another chapter up and running. Seriously, I love insomnia to a degree since it lets me get these chapters done so I can finish these stories (won't you believe it that I have writer's block for new stories just cause I don't have nine stories done?) but it keeps me tired during the day. Yeah, I might as well be a vampire since I don't want to take sleeping pills if I don't have to.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH or anything else unless I say otherwise.

* * *

Chapter Three

She wouldn't cry no matter what happened.

She didn't care if she was afraid but she was the oldest and she'd be damned if she let anybody see her crying for any reason. When she was away from the little ones she'd cry. Until then, she needed to pretend like everything was okay even though she and Shippo both knew that things weren't okay.

It was easy to pretend that she wasn't afraid, she had learned how to be a good liar. Hiei and Kurama had taught her well when it came to the trivial stuff like that. Kagome didn't like it every much but Kurama had told her that it was okay to lie about being afraid when it came to enemies. Right now they were faced with enemies and she was going to lie like hell about being afraid.

They didn't need anymore power.

Hana sat protectively in front of her brothers and cousins, her eyes focusing on the ones that had taken them. She easily felt the fear in her heart upon recognizing the two men but refused to allow them the satisfaction of knowing that she was afraid of them. "Naraku. Karasu." Hana said, her voice cold.

Shippo's eyes narrowed as he looked at the two men, clearly remembering Naraku. He didn't know the other one but he wasn't a good man from how Hana sounded. "Hello, little one." The feminine looking man said with a smile. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Inuyasha and Kagome's going to kick your ass straight back to Hell." Hana informed the man. "She still hasn't forgiven you for trying to get Kurama."

The second man looked amused before answering, "Ah, she's still upset about that? You know, I could easily send her back a child. Of course I'd have to leave the face undamaged so she could recognize the child."

Hana jerked her body back, automatically protecting the younger ones from any impending harm. "You'll have to get through me first, you bastard." Hana snarled at him before glaring at Naraku. "My cousin and Inuyasha will both kick your ass. They hate anybody that wants to hurt their precious people."

Naraku smiled coldly at her, listening to the sobs that left the younger children's lips. "I've gotten stronger." Naraku told them. "This time, the outcome will be quite different."

"You clearly don't know who you're about to piss off." Hana said coolly as she kept her eyes focused on the two men. "Hiei and Kurama will each tell their respective Lords and Yusuke will be sure that Enki knows what happened. By now, I bet the Reikai knows what has happened and King Enma will want to make sure that Kagome and Yusuke are both happy. They're very influential in the Makai, you know, and if they're unhappy then the Makai gets very unhappy."

"Somehow, little girl, I'm not the slightest bit afraid of them." Naraku laughed darkly. "There's nothing that they can do to me. They've dropped their guards and have grown weak."

"That's too bad. Usually anybody with half a brain knows to be afraid of Kagome and Yusuke. When they're apart they're okay but when you put them together, not even Hell has enough fury to overwhelm them."

It was true too. Shippo and Hana had both seen the two beat the living crap out of each other for some reason that was unknown to them, pried apart only by Hiei and Kurama since the two were the only ones brave enough to get into the middle of the brawl. Both had been agitated and were still screaming at each other for an hour straight before they finally decided to settle down.

As they watched as the two men left the room, Shippo clung onto Hana. "It'll be okay." Hana said as she focused her eyes on the door. "We'll get out of here."

"How?" Shippo questioned.

"Don't worry. I'll think of something."

She didn't know what they needed to do to get out of this mess, but they had to think of something and fast. If something happened to the kids, then she didn't know how she'd be able to look at them or anybody ever again.

* * *

He was going to be sick.

Inuyasha felt his stomach lurch violently, threatening to make him become reacquainted with his food. The scent of blood and decay was heavy in the air, telling them that many had died in this given area. From the look on Sango and Miroku's faces, they could smell it just as well as he could. "Watch yourselves. Humans are a minority here." Kagome warned Sango and Miroku with a serious look in her pained eyes. "We'll go straight to the castle first and wait there while Hiei and Kurama get Mukuro and Yomi."

"You're sure that we won't be imposing." There was doubt in Miroku's voice.

"Nah, I lived there for a while so we won't be imposing." Yusuke said with a small grin. "Enki's not too bad a guy. He and Raizen used to hang out way back when."

"Then that healer came into the picture." Kagome shot at her cousin.

"Yeah. From how Raizen sounded, she was hot."

"Oh, yeah, nothing turns a person on more than the knowledge that the person they want to kill can kill them since their bodies are chalk full of poisons."

Yusuke laughed as he nodded in agreement, his brown eyes dancing with excitement. "There it is." Yusuke announced with a small nod.

The group looked ahead, seeing the castle looming ahead of them. "Let's go." Kagome said lightly. "When we get there, we can figure out how we're going to get the kids back."

Inuyasha touched the miko's arm and held her close as they walked. Everything would be okay. Shippo and Hana were with the younger ones and would without a doubt protect them from harm. "We taught them well." Inuyasha said softly. "It also helps that she has such a weird group that takes care of her."

Kagome laughed softly, her eyes showing a little bit of hope. Things would be okay. They'd get the kids back somehow and then they could go home and spend time with the family. Afterwards, they'd go back to the Feudal Era and live as peacefully as they possibly could for as long as possible.

* * *

lostmoonchild: Okay, Yomi and Mukuro are showing up in the next installment. What'll happen next? Sorry, I don't even know just yet. I plan on knocking my updating sessions down to just Mondays since I'm feeling like I've been rushing the chapters just a tad bit. Anyway, read and review so I know that somebody's still following this story. For everybody that's reading, you guys rock.


	5. Chapter 4

lostmoonchild: Okay, since music helps me concentrate I'm actually listening to music right now and thinking about how nice it'd be to go right to bed. We finally got a nice day and since I was about to go nuts just hanging out inside, I decided to pull away from the computer and spent a good two and a half to three hours outside. The most I did was take my brother's bike tire from his bike and put it on mine since my front tire had a flat and I was too lazy to hunt down a spare that wasn't on a bike. Yeah, it was kind of sad. I'm willing to get a wrench and take the tires off just to stick them back on but I'm not willing to look in the tool trailer for a spare tire. Oh well, I got some exercise and soaked up some vitamin D.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH or anything else unless I say otherwise.

* * *

Chapter Four

He knew that scent but it didn't make sense. How could he be in this era when Inuyasha knew full well that the scent's owner was back in the Feudal Era?

Inuyasha was silent as he listened to Kagome and Yusuke greet somebody, both clearly surprised by the person's presence. "I forgot how quickly rumors spread around here." Kagome said as she and Yusuke led the person into the larger room.

The inu-hanyou looked into familiar golden eyes, seeing his older brother's delicate features. "I assure you that I heard this from someone that the Makai Kings were all interested in capturing." Sesshomaru informed the miko before looking at his brother. "Inuyasha."

"Sesshomaru."

"Hey, no fighting. If you want to fight, take it outside." Yusuke warned the two. "I mean it."

The two looked at each other for a moment before Sesshomaru said calmly, "I have no interest in anything other than discussing what I know."

Inuyasha eyed his brother carefully for a moment, noticing the subtle changes in his features. The older demon looked to be tired, as if the past five hundred years had been unkind and he was tired from it all. Now that he thought about it, Kagome and Yusuke seemed to look tired as well despite having been born in this era.

What in the world had happened?

"Lord and Lady Urameshi, Lords Mukuro and Yomi have just arrived." A man said with a small bow.

"I'll go get Sango and Miroku." Kagome told her cousin.

"Sure."

Kagome kissed her cousin's cheek before smiling at Inuyasha. Everything would be okay, her eyes told him. She had absolute faith that they'd all have the children back as soon as they possibly could, especially since they had all three of the Makai Kings helping them. Nobody would be stupid enough to keep anything from any one of them now. To do so would probably equal death but even then Inuyasha was certain that death wasn't an escape for anybody that angered any of the Makai Kings.

Ten minutes later they were all sitting around a decent sized table and getting introduced to each other. Inuyasha was honestly surprised to see that Hiei and Kurama were each standing next to the unfamiliar looking demons, although he was almost certain that the woman was human. He had been certain that Hiei and Kurama both were Yusuke's friends and he knew for certain that Kagome and Kurama had dated for a while. What in the world was going on? Was this some kind of twisted joke cause if it was, then it wasn't even funny. "Hiei is one of Mukuro's generals and Kurama is Yomi's second-in-command." Kagome said softly.

"And you two broke up?" Inuyasha whispered, referring to when Kagome and Kurama dated.

"It wasn't working out between us. Probably a good thing we did or else we'd be in a world of hurt."

"Do you want to explain what happened, Lady Kagome, or should we have Lord Urameshi do the explaining?" Yomi questioned, a soft smile appearing on his face.

"You'd trust my cousin for information?" Kagome questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Either that boy of yours is beating your head into rocks, Lord Yomi, or you've grown senile in your thousand plus years of existence."

This demon was a thousand years old? Sango and Miroku looked at the demon, seeing the smile that remained on his lips. "Keep the insults to a minimum, Lady Kagome." Kurama warned the miko.

"Yes, we wouldn't want a problem between our two kingdoms, would we?" Kagome questioned patiently. "A few days ago we left the Feudal Era to attend a family reunion. The children were playing outside and when we checked on them, they were missing. Of course, I'm certain that Hiei and Kurama have already told you both what had happened."

"They arrived afterwards." The woman, Mukuro, stated calmly.

"I know that. Just because my cousin is an idiot doesn't mean that I'm one as well."

Hold on a minute. Kagome just said "a few days ago" but the kids were taken only earlier that day! "Time passes by differently here than in Ningenkai." Yusuke explained when he saw their confused expressions. "Three days has already passed in Ningenkai compared to the one day here."

"Any idea as to whom may have taken them?"

"From what we've been told, there had been an escape from Hell a short time ago. One of the ones that had escaped was somebody that possibly holds a grudge against us and the other one was a member of Team Toguro."

"Name?" Yomi questioned, a frown appearing on his features.

"The first one is Naraku. The second one is Karasu."

From how Kurama's body stiffened at the mention of the second one, the second man wasn't somebody that he cared to have running around. For a moment Inuyasha found himself wondering why Kurama seemed bothered by the second man but from the warning look in Yusuke's eyes, that topic was best left alone. "Lord Sesshomaru, I'm assuimng that you've heard something that you deem important." Mukuro said calmly. "Do you care to share what you have information wise?"

"Of course." Sesshomaru answered, weariness showing in his eyes again.

Damn it. What in the hell had happened that would make Sesshomaru look so damn tired now? Surely there wasn't anything that the great taiyoukai couldn't have handled effortlessly.

When this damn meeting was over, Inuyasha decided, he was going to have a talk with Sesshomaru to determine what exactly had happened in the past five hundred years. When he did, the bastard had better give up some answers because he wasn't going to let anything happen to his family.

Sighing softly, the taiyoukai began to patiently explain what he had heard.

* * *

lostmoonchild: What did Sesshomaru hear? Why does he look so tired after five hundred years? Hey, if you guys want to know then you'll have to leave a review. Believe me, you don't have to sign in or anything cause I'm all for keeping one's true identity secret even though I'm one of the ones that put their first name in their profile so read and review!


	6. Chapter 5

lostmoonchild: Okay, this chapter was actually written down in a two hundred page notebook since I needed a break from the computer and since my handwriting is pretty small, it didn't take up more than three pages in the notebook.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH or anything else unless I say otherwise.

* * *

Chapter Five

"I had a meeting with somebody that was looking for a job when I heard somebody that used to constantly attempt to take the miko as his own when she worked at the Youkai Den."

"I remember him." Kagome confirmed with a small nod, her eyes showing absolutely no amusement at the memory. "Slimy bastard. I'm actually surprised that you didn't kill him the first time you caught him making a pass at me."

Sesshomaru smiled faintly and nodded slightly, obviously agreeing with the miko. For a moment Inuyasha wondered why he hadn't been told about all of the ones that had made a pass at his mate but he decided that he really didn't want to know about all of them incase of the event that they got into an argument about the miko's past job. "Well, he had been talking about helping those condemned to hell escape to take revenge upon those that had ultimately played a part in their deaths." Sesshomaru told them with a somber look on his face. "Upon hearing that, I thought to take my findings to the proper authorities but decided that it would be best to acquire proof beforehand."

"Why not just tell someone even if you didn't have the proof?" Yusuke questioned.

"There are many whom are now distrustful of the Reikai. Ever since it was discovered that the Reikai had been controlling the lower class demons and forcing them attack humans in order to have a reason to separate the two races, any demons that actually do have information are hesitant to step forward." Sesshomaru reminded the young man patiently.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as he looked at his older brother, seeing that his brother did look as if he were frustrated. "It's no wonder why you decided to quit your job half a year ago, Lady Kagome." Yomi said lightly. "Your reputation is based on those that you're associated with and things would not have been so pleasant for you if you were associated with the Spirit World."

"Now if I could convince my dear cousin and his friends to sever ties with the Reikai." Kagome answered pleasantly. "No sense in getting into trouble by the whole guilty by association thing."

"Very funny, Lady Kagome." There was a look in Kurama's eyes that let them know that he was indeed amused despite this not really being the time for jokes.

"I thought it was hilarious." Kagome remarked with a grin.

"Okay, you two, back to the issue at hand." Yusuke stated calmly as he lightly tapped his cousin on the head. "Need I remind you, dear cousin, that your husband is currently sitting next to you?"

Kagome stuck her tongue out at Yusuke before turning her attention back to the conversation. "So where is this guy?" Miroku questioned.

Sesshomaru sighed softly before answering, "I don't know. Shortly before the escape he vanished without a trace and has yet to be located. It's my belief that he's currently hiding with Naraku and the other one that escaped."

The miko sighed a bit before looking at Yomi with a bored expression. "I call that we lock up the fox so the dead man walking doesn't get his filthy hands on Kurama." Kagome informed Yomi. "I'll share him with some chick and maybe a few guys but there's no way in hell that I'm sharing him with that freak."

"Aren't you mated?" Mukuro questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, but let's you and me go over a few details in private then later on we'll ask Inuyasha and Hiei if they picked anything up from either of us." Kagome suggested with the same lecherous look that they knew Yusuke was capable of making.

Hiei stiffened slightly, his crimson eyes narrowing in warning. "I wasn't aware that you swung that way, Lady Kagome. Mokuro commented lightly. "I always thought you preferred men."

"Well, you look enough like a man that I wouldn't mind."

Irritation flashed on the other woman's face before she smiled. "I undersatnd that when you're worried and don't wish to show your anxiety, you become more of a pest so I'm going to ignore your offers," the woman answered patiently.

They had known that the two women didn't get along very well and felt sorry for Hiei for a brief moment. The demon was clearly trying to avoid getting caught in the middle of the crossfire and it was almost too clear to see how many times he had gotten caught in the middle. "If you would be so kind as to give a discription of the person of interest then we'll be sure to have our soldiers keep an eye out for him." Yomi stated calmly.

With a small nod, Sesshomaru began describing the man from memory.

* * *

"Hana, are we going to die?" Shippo whispered when the younger ones had fallen asleep.

Hana didn't answer for a few minutes before answering softly, "I don't know. I'm really hoping right now that Karasu won't decide that he likes one of us."

"Why? Wouldn't that be in our best interest?"

"No. Karasu likes to take away everything that he likes. I don't know why but I suppose that's his way of keeping whatever he likes to himself." Hana shivered slightly. "He tried to kill Kurama in the Dark Tournament because he liked Kurama. I was never told why he liked Kurama but I think it's because he had such an excellent reputation and has a pretty face."

Shippo pressed himself against Hana and held onto her as he looked at the sleeping toddlers. They were barely babies; they didn't deserve any of this. They had nothing to do with how Naraku and Karasu were killed so why punish them? They were innocent! He and Hana had been there when Naraku was killed so what was Karasu's excuse? Did he somehow blame Hana for his defeat?

Hana kissed Shippo's cheek and softly hugged him against her. "Get some sleep, Shippo. I'll keep watch." Hana murmured in his ear.

"What about you?" SHippo questioned.

"I'll get some sleep later. Don't worry."

Nodding slightly, Shippo laid down next to his sister and closed his eyes as she began singing softly. It was a lullaby, he realized through clouded thoughts. She was singing him a lullaby to help him get some sleep.

In the end he knew that everything would be all right. Inuyasha and the others would come rescue them and then they could all go back home.

His heart raced against his chest as he suddenly woke up, his green eyes trying to focus in the pitch blackness. Beside him he could feel Hana tremble in fear as if there were some kind of monster waiting in the darkness. "Who is it?" Shippo questioned as he looked ahead where he felt someone standing.

Something about this person didn't feel right. What was it? The person was male, but how did he know that it was a man? His scent? The way the darkness seemed to avoid him? Maybe. All he knew for certain that Hana was afraid of this person and he didn't know why.

They both stared at the figure for about fifteen minutes before the figure left the room. Something deep within told them that they were in deep trouble now. Even an hour after the figure had left, the feeling of sickening fear remained and threatened to make them become reacquainted with the small dinner they had been given.

Please, please hurry.

* * *

lostmoonchild: Okay, I'm thinking of what'll happen next and I'm not entirely sure that I like the idea but if nothing else comes to mind then I'll have to go with it. One chapter at a time, that's how it's going to go even though I can promise that this story won't be as long as the first one. Anyway, read and review!


	7. Chapter 6

lostmoonchild: Okay, chapter six and we're still going somewhat strong. I'm actually in a good mood from yesterday since we were horseback riding and the horses we were riding weren't broke. When I went to get off of the more temperamental horse, my bra actually got caught and snapped right in half. As a result of that, everybody's laughing and even I couldn't get upset since it was so funny.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH or anything else unless I say otherwise.

* * *

Chapter Six

He was back again and this time he had Naraku and Karasu with him. There was even a woman with him this time. Who was she? Why was she here with these evil men? Didn't she realize that they were going to hurt them and didn't care about her? "Momma?" Hana questioned when she caught the woman's familiar scent. "Momma, is that you?"

She moved closer to the bars as she kept her eyes focused on the people. Her entire body stiffened as the woman hesitantly approached. "You said that she wouldn't be locked up," whispered Misora as she held onto the man.

"Do you want to chance her escaping with those other kids? I don't think so. If they get to a Reikai official then you'll immediately be deported to the Makai," the man said calmly. "You don't want that, do you? Ningenkai is so much nicer than the Makai any day."

Misora shook her head. "No," she murmured.

"Momma, help us! Please, Momma, they're not good! They're going to kill us!" Hana screamed as tears began rolling down her face.

"Go on, dearest, we'll join you in a short while." The man told Misora as he kissed her cheek.

Hana moved back, her eyes wide in disbelief. While her memories of any affections her parents shared were faded away to the point of near nonexistence, she knew the look in the man's eyes. That was the same look that her biological father would make when he was doing something that contradicted what he really wanted to do. He may have kissed her mother but being romantic wasn't on this list of things to do at he moment.

The man calmly unlocked the door and roughly grabbed her by the arm, shoving the other children away. A scream of terror left her lips when Naraku grabbed her, his fingers digging into her soft flesh. "You'll remember to hold up your end of our bargain, correct?" Naraku questioned patiently.

"Of course." The man answered smoothly as he locked the cell door again. "But first we must send our message to those that will try first to destroy us all."

Karasu grinned, his eyes manic as he watched the man hold out the little girl's arm and held the tip of her index finger between his thumb and forefinger. "Be very careful, Karasu. We want them to be able to immediately recognize the finger and know whom it belongs to." The man smiled at Hana. "This is your fault, you know. If you had been a good little girl and kept your mouth quiet, then we wouldn't be doing this to you. We probably would have chosen one of your brothers or maybe your cousins."

Shippo watched in absolute horror as the man's finger touched just above Hana's knuckle. It didn't look like anything was going to happen but then a bloodcurdling scream tore itself from Hana's lips when there was a small explosion and warm blood spurted from the girl's hand and onto the floor as the man held the severed finger up, carefully inspecting it as if it were an expensive gem of some kind. He easily ignored Hana's pained screams and the collective sobs as if they were nothing more than simple background noise. "Put her back in with the others. We'll deliver the message right away."

The world spun rapidly as Hana was put back with the others, her mind refusing to acknowledge what had happened. As she heard the toddlers' echoing cries, everything faded to black and she knew no more.

"My Lords and Ladies, a message has just arrived by messenger."

Inuyasha thought that he was going to vomit when the scent of blood reached his nose, telling him that the present wasn't something that he'd care for. Reaching past the coppery scent, he could pick up the familiar scent of a half demon child.

When the box was opened, they stared in shock at the severed finger in disbelief before a choked sob left Kagome's lips. Yusuke's eyes darkened in dangerous anger as the air around him grew more dangerous. "It's still warm and judging by the coagulation of the blood, whoever is hiding the children is nearby." Kurama reported as he inspected the index finger carefully. He was going to kill whoever did this but he'd give Yusuke and Kagome first shots at the fiend since they were blood relations and it would give them a sense of closure. "Judging by the scorch marks, Karasu was the one that severed her finger and I doubt he made it as painless as possible. Probably put several small bombs in her finger before detonating them."

Kagome clung desperately to Inuyasha and buried her face in his shoulder as tears rolled down her face, soft sobs violently shaking her body. "Kags, we'll do what we can to help get the kids back and we will make them pay." Yusuke told her with barely constrained anger in his voice. "I swear that by the time we're done with the bastards, even Hell will feel their misery and won't have anything on it. Hell, it'll be screaming in agony at the mere thought of what we're going to do to the son of a bitch."

Sango held onto Miroku's robs and tried as hard as she could to keep from crying. What if their children were next? What would happen if Naraku and this Karasu guy started sending bodies to them? She didn't want anything else to happen to the children and she didn't want to see Yusuke or any of his friends angry. Something just told her that when that happened, it would be best to run and hide.

Holding tightly to his wife, Miroku looked at the group with determined eyes. "Is there anything that we can do or should know about?" Miroku questioned as he looked at Yusuke.

Yusuke sighed a bit before answering, "Yeah, don't wander around by yourselves. Inuyasha, I really hate this part but I'm going to need to ask you to make a small sacrifice. There's somebody that'll talk but only to a couple of people in this room at a price."

"What is it?" Inuyasha questioned.

Yusuke hesitated for a moment before answering, "You're gonna have to pretend not to be Kagom'es mate. The only way that they'll talk is if they think that Kagome and Kurama are an item again. If they see that they aren't then they'll keep their mouth shut and won't give us any information."

"Are you crazy?!" There was absolutely no way in hell that he was going to let his mate do something so damn stupid… so dangerous… with anybody!

"Inuyasha," said Kagome with tear-filled eyes. "Kurama and I used to have something, remember? It won't be hard to pretend that we still do."

Inuyasha tangled his fingers in the woman's hair as he touched his nose against hers. "You're absolutely positive?" Inuyasha asked softly. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. We can probably find another way that won't make you do this."

Slowly Kagome nodded. "Yes," she breathed as she looked into his golden eyes. "I'm positive."

Their lips met for a moment before the inu-hanyou looked at Kurama with a threatening look in his eyes. "You take good care of my mate, fox." Inuyasha growled dangerously. While he knew better than to threaten Kurama, he couldn't help but do it just this once seeing as he was trusting the fox demon with his mate. "If I find even one scratch on her, then I'll kill you myself."

Kurama smiled lightly as if he had been told a joke instead of threatened. "Of course," said the red-head patiently. "I'm compelled, however, to remind you that I can't promise anything. Your mate is a big girl and she can take care of herself when the given situation calls for it. I trust that you've seen at least once how she handles herself."

Certainly not for the first time nor for the last, Kagome found herself grateful to be a woman. With little to no testosterone in her body, she wasn't prone to the leading cause of absolute stupidity and injury among the male species.

Testosterone poisoning.

* * *

lostmoonchild: Okay, I couldn't help but think of _Obsidian Butterfly_ by Laurell K. Hamilton with the whole testosterone poisoning bit. I'm pretty sure that most guys don't let the testosterone do all the talking but it's still interesting to watch. Yeah, most of my friends are guys so I totally get the whole "you do A, I'll do B to you" concept. Anyway, read and review, I'll accept flames since I'm in a good mood. Funny how losing your bra while riding a couple of unbroken colts lifts up one's mood from the hilarity.


	8. Chapter 7

lostmoonchild: Yeah, I know that I didn't update last Monday. I'm evil, I know but I have a somewhat good excuse. Sunday evening we had gone horseback riding on the horses that aren't saddle broke. I didn't use a saddle and I got thrown to the ground and my foot got stepped on. When I did get on, she blew up and our heads collided so I'm running around with the right half of my body bruised and possibly fractured since my brain has a "defend the left side and fuck the right side" defense set up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH or anything else unless I say otherwise.

* * *

Chapter Seven

The music pounding in his ears reminded Inuyasha of the Youkai Den a couple of years back. The tight outfit that Kagome had opted to wear didn't help much with the memories since very little was left to the imagination. If he didn't know for certain that Kurama would take care of her and that his mate could take care of herself, Inuyasha would have refused to let Kagome do such a reckless thing as this. Sitting next to Kurama, however, he could easily see why their informant only wanted to talk to the two of them and no one else.

The two actually made a decent couple when they weren't getting on the other's nerves and were actually being civil to each other. The pictures that he had seen of the two held nothing compared to the scene that he was looking at now. If he and Kagome wouldn't have met when they did, would the miko have gotten back together with the fox demon eventually or would they actually try to move past each other? They each claimed that it was because she was a priestess and he was a demon but they hadn't known about her purification powers until she was fifteen.

So what in the hell was the real reason? False love or had one of them cheated on the other? What had caused the two to decide to call it quits?

Inuyasha watched as Kurama held onto Kagome's hand and whispered something into her ear before kissing her neck. Kagome smiled slightly before moving her head so she could murmur something back to Kurama. "What are they talking about?" Sango questioned.

"Kurama thinks that I'm getting jealous and Kagome's warning him not to push me to far." Inuyasha answered softly. "They must have already planned for that since they have a plan worked out already. I'm the jealous lover from the short time they were apart and I'm apparently convinced that we're deeply in love."

Yusuke grinned slightly as he took a drink of his sake before answering, "Put Kags and Kurama together and you've got a force to be rightfully feared."

Somehow none of them doubted that. Kurama alone was frightening but when Kagome was next to him and smiling, the two of them suddenly looked as if they were better off left alone. "Part of the reason why they didn't work out." Kuwabara explained when Miroku made the comment. "Kagome doesn't like being watched with such caution. Hanging around us naturally made people wary of her and she didn't like that so she and Kurama decided that her association to us would best be through Urameshi."

Kuwabara's words was lost to Inuyasha as he watched his mate with avid interest. He could see that she was remembering the days when the two were together and he couldn't help but wonder if she actually missed those days. Did she regret agreeing to becoming his mate instead of the fox demon's?

"There." Yusuke said softly as a young man approached the two.

They watched as the young man sat down at the same table as Kagome and Kurama, smiling pleasantly at them. The miko laughed a bit and patted Kurama's hand as she looked at the man across the table. "His name's Tiek." Yusuke said softly. "We're not exactly sure whose friend he is but he's reliable enough."

None of them spoke as Kagome's eyes filled with tears as she and Kurama explained what was going on. Tiek nodded sympathetically as he touched Kagome's hand and spoke softly to her. Kurama's body language told them that the other male was telling them exactly what he had heard. "The fox is lucky that the miko is such an excellent actress." Hiei commented lightly. "If it were any onna then he'd have to pick up the slack."

"Thank whatever genius came up with Kagome." Yusuke remarked lightly before taking a drink. "Then we'll all damn whoever it was when she decides to piss us all off."

* * *

Shippo was silent as he checked his sister's hand, wrinkling his nose when he smelt the telltale signs of infection beginning to set in. The dried blood was easy enough to ignore but it was the infection that he hated. It just reminded him of decay or something relatively close to it so there had to have been something about the man's spirit energy that would have caused an infection. Somebody's blood or maybe there had been something else on the blade. Next time he saw Inuyasha, he'd have to remember to ask what could possibly cause an infection and if Inuyasha didn't have the answer then he'd ask Hiei even though the crimson-eyed demon made him nervous. "Remember when we first met, Hana?" Shippo questioned. "I accidentally scared you."

Hana smiled faintly. "I remember. I was scared anyway and wanted Kagome so badly that no one else seemed to exist." Hana replied. "Shippo."

"Hm?"

"I know it's infected. If it gets too infected then I'm going to lose my hand. If it gets past that point, I'm going to die."

"You're not going to die." Shippo stated calmly. "Doesn't infection go in different stages?"

Hana sighed a little. How on earth did she manage to get such a stubborn brother that actually _listened_ to Kagome when she started talking about infections? Injury gets infected and spreads if it isn't stopped in time. In the event that the infection isn't stopped before then, the infected person risks the chance of dying. "I didn't say that I was going to die right away. If we don't get out of here before it's too late, then I'm going to die here and this place is one place I don't want to die."

Shippo looked at the door for a moment before looking back at his sister. "So," he said softly, "what's the plan?"

"That door." Hana murmured. "They always keep it unlocked when the cell's locked. If we can pick the lock to the cell then we can grab the kids and run for it."

"Where would we go?" Shippo whispered.

"To any of the Makai Kings' places. Anywhere that there's an ally." Hana answered softly. "There's any number of them in this world from Yusuke and Kagome."

Shippo looked at his sister for a moment before smiling. "You've got a plan." Shippo stated with a smile.

Hana winked before taking a deep breath. Closing her eyes tightly, she let out a bloodcurdling scream of agony.

* * *

lostmoonchild: Another chapter done. I should have another update ready to go for next week before too long so read and review, flames are accpeted.


	9. Chapter 8

lostmoonchild: Alright, chapter eight is up and ready. Actually had to go back and check on some names since I couldn't remember. Splitting headache that lasts a good six or seven hours with only an hour or two break in between has a tendency to do that. Since my head isn't hurting today but I'm getting yelled at for whatever reason (I honestly don't know why) this chapter is getting worked on and hopefully I'll get a couple updates ahead of schedule.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH so don't sue. Everything else is mine. Wanna borrow? Ask.

* * *

Chapter Eight

There were several things that mothers seemed to respond to when their child was involved and one of those things happened to be their child's cries of pain. There was just something about a cry of pain that made a mother's blood run cold.

Misora froze as she watched her daughter thrash around in apparent agony with her fingers digging into her eyes. The toddlers were all crying in fear as they watched Hana arch her back in agony. "It hurts!" Hana screeched. "Momma, it hurts so much! My eyes! Oh, my eyes!"

Farewell rational thoughts and hello instinct.

Shippo pulled his attention away from his screaming sister and to the chaos that was starting up outside the cell. He watched as Hana' smother started hitting their captor, screaming at him to help her daughter. The woman was getting close to hysterics and the young fox demon couldn't help but appreciate Hana's acting skills.

Naraku and Karasu, he noted, weren't in the room but that didn't mean that they were in the clear. For all he knew, the two could be lurking somewhere else and waiting for them. That mean that they would need to be extra cautious just incase.

As their captor entered the cell and shut the cell door behind him,. Shippo stuck a mushroom into the lock. It was one of the mushrooms he used as a defense (courtesy of Kurama) so it wouldn't make any noises. It'd just jam the lock so their captor thought that it was locked but they could still escape when the time was right.

Thankfully Hana's mother was so absorbed in what was going on that she wasn't paying any attention to what he was doing. When Hana's screams turned to sniffles since she had hit her hand at some point in time, the man left the cell and locked it behind him. "Sissy otay?" Kano questioned with a concerned look.

Hana winced slightly and pressed her hand against her chest, breathing steadily. "Yeah, I'm okay." Hana answered softly as she kept her eyes focused on the door.

"Sissy, me want Mama." Kage whispered as he touched Hana's leg.

"Me too, honey."

It was easy to keep the children calm since it was easier to think about their needs than the pain she was in. "Did you get it, Shippo?"

Shippo nodded slightly before he looked completely serious. "How are we going to do this though?" Shippo questioned. "They're bound to realize the lock's been tampered with before too long."

"We'll escape tonight when it's dark. Then we'll run as fast as we can with the kids to the nearest ally we have here."

"Who's that?"

Hana was silent for a moment before answering, "I have no idea."

With an answer like that, Shippo couldn't help but wonder if there was some reason why he didn't feel anything but uneasiness about the whole thing. He wasn't familiar with the Makai like his sister was. All he was used to was Ningenkai and even then he had some difficulty. The Makai was a whole different ballgame and it was one that he wasn't quite ready for.

As he looked at the five toddlers, he could see the fear in their eyes. They wanted to go home to their parents even though their parents' faces were probably fading from their memories. Taking a deep breath he nodded. "We'll do our best." Shippo answered softly. "For the babies, we have to do our absolute best."

Kagome breathed softly as she snuggled against Inuyasha, enjoying his scent. She had washed Kurama's scent off of her and was currently enjoying the company of her mate. "You were acting pretty good tonight." Inuyasha murmured. "It actually made me start to think about something."

"Hmm?"

"When you two were a couple. I know that you're both capable of being completely civil to each other and I noticed that there was still something between you."

Kagome sighed and looked up at Inuyasha, seeing the look in his eyes. He was questioning their relationship even though they were raising four boys and a girl together. "Do you think that I'll choose Kurama over you?" Kagome questioned softly.

"I don't want to say that."

Inuyasha was silent as Kagome brushed her lips against his, her eyes soft and loving. "I chose to spend the rest of my life with you." Kagome told him softly. "You never forget your first love and maybe there will always be that spark between Kurama and I but there's an inferno between you and I that the spark has nothing against."

He wanted to say that the miko's words put him at ease but there was still that nagging voice of doubt. What if one day she decided that she didn't want to deal with him or the children anymore and decided to leave? Would he wake up one day and find Kagome gone from his life forever?

No, he decided. Kagome loved them enough to stay with them until the day she died. Kissing her softly, Inuyasha nodded a bit. "I love you," he whispered to her.

Kagome smiled as she pressed her nose against his, her eyes dancing happily. "I love you too." Kagome answered with a pleased smile.

Even after all of this time, Inuyasha was still pleased to see that simply saying "I love you" to the miko made her happy. In a hundred years would she still be happy whenever he told those three little words that meant so much to her? "When this whole mess is over, let's have another baby." Inuyasha said with a light grin.

"Four boys and a girl equals five kids already, Inuyasha." Kagome laughed. "Let's you and me discuss the possibility of a sixth one after we get our five back."

A knock on the door caught their attention and a groan left Kagome lips when Yusuke entered the room. "Hey, we got that information." Yusuke told them. "Believe me, guys, you're going to want to hear what we found."

"Why?" There was wariness in Kagome's voice.

Yusuke hesitated a moment before answering, "You remember that guy that Auntie said she married?"

"That nice, rich guy? Yeah." Kagome confirmed.

The young man hesitated a minute before replying slowly, "Well, he's the one that took the kids."

* * *

lostmoonchild: Hey, my computer's getting used to the idea that there's not a space in my penname. I'm actually surprised seeing as this computer's a literal piece of crap. Okay, read and review, flames are accepted.


	10. Chapter 9

lostmoonchild: Right, another chapter ready to go for you guys. I'm about a week ahead of my updates since I've got this chapter done a whole week (or two) before the next update. Guess that's what happens when you get three stories done and don't need to worry about what's going to happen next. Anyway, here's the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Inuyasha or even anything else unless I say otherwise. If I owned either show, there'd be mixing between the two.

* * *

Chapter Nine

She wanted to be surprised but she found herself unable to. It wasn't surprising that her aunt's husband was behind the kidnappings and behind Naraku and Karasu's escape from Hell. After all, it was because of her aunt's choice in men that her cousin had lost her sight for quite a while.

The women in her family actually had very pathetic tastes in men. Her aunt got ditched by Yusuke's father and her own mother had gotten ditched for a while by her father. Hell, Kagome couldn't even deny that she probably could have done better when it came to her own tastes in men seeing as her own selection was a former thief before she moved on to a guy that had spent time breaking her heart into hundreds of pieces all for a damn walking corpse!

Somebody must have decided to give the women in her family a swift kick in the ass when it came to men. When was the last time any of them had chosen a halfway decent guy that had nothing to do with demons or the supernatural? Over five hundred years ago? Maybe it was a curse for her and Yusuke's ancestor falling in love with Raizen.

Yusuke looked at his cousin and smiled a bit when he caught the thoughtful look in her eyes. They could have entire conversations without saying a word to each other and he knew full well that she was wondering if their luck with men was based on something their ancestor did. Since he was a guy, he couldn't say whether or not that was the reason why the women in their family had such rotten luck with the opposite sex. "I don't know, Kags. Maybe." Yusuke answered with a grin. "It'd make sense."

Kagome raised an eyebrow as a smile threatened to make an appearance. It was just so much fun to actually talk to Yusuke simply by using their eyes. _"Me included?"_ Her eyes asked him while her lips spread into a smile. She was actually getting a kick out of the whole "was this some kind of punishment?" thing even though he knew that she could have gone without the kids getting involved.

Laughter left his lips as he sat down, completely unaware of the questioning looks that they were getting. Clearly they didn't understand how they could talk to each other without actually speaking words aloud. "You want to be included?" Yusuke asked through his laughter.

"Nah. I'm probably just the test." Okay, so the silent conversation was over for now. He could deal with that.

"Well, you failed miserably."

Neither one knew why their jabs at each other made them feel better but it did. A sigh left Kagome's lips as she sat down and looked serious. "Okay, so Auntie Misora's new hubby is not only rich, but he's a kidnapper." Kagome said with a small frown. "You know, Urameshi, that's a new one for our family. We've got thieves, murderers, liars, whores, priests, and demons but we've never had a kidnapper in the family before. The ones that tucked tail and ran don't count anymore cause practically every single generation has had someone like that."

Yusuke nodded slightly. "Great, so we're dealing with a member of your family. How in the hell are we going to approach this one?" Inuyasha demanded.

Kagome frowned slightly as she looked around at their friends. There was anticipation in their eyes, as if they were all wondering the same thing. "The same way we do with any other bad guy." Yusuke said as soon as he caught Kagome's eyes. He could see the knowing look burning within them and could easily vocalize what his cousin had difficulty with. "We go in and beat the living hell out of them."

"Urameshi! That's your uncle you're planning on beating up." Kuwabara protested.

"Hey, that's Kagome's idea!" Yusuke protested.

"Kuwabara, blood runs thicker than water. The children are ours and not his. They don't belong to Naraku nor do they belong to Karasu." There was a calmness in her eyes that sent chills down their spines. "They are ours and there is no way that any parent would want their child to be near anybody who would cause them harm."

Nodding slightly in understanding, Kuwabara took a breath. "What's the plan?" Miroku questioned.

"This is what we're going to do…"

If he had known that it would be this cold in the Makai at night then he wouldn't have agreed that darkness would be better. While he could understand the reasoning, he still wished that it was warmer.

Shippo looked at his sister as she carried two of the kids while he carried the other two. All four toddlers were sound asleep and nestled against the older ones for warmth. He still couldn't believe that they had managed to escape without getting caught. "Hana, did Kurama teach you how to escape?" Shippo questioned softly.

Hana nodded slightly. "Don't tell Mama. She'll get upset at Kurama for teaching me." Hana told him softly.

"Where are we going to go?"

The girl was silent for a moment before answering, "I think Touya lives around here. He'll take us to Grandma's place."

"I want to go to Momma." Shippo told her.

"Touya will tell them where we are. Don't worry."

There was such confidence in her voice that Shippo wasn't a hundred percent positive how his sister could be so certain. This was a new world for him and he wasn't sure how to handle it. He didn't know what to expect and he was fairly certain that his time was much more civilized than this place. "You don't think they'll find us again, do you?" Shippo asked.

Hana shook her head. "No, I'm good at hiding. If they do find us, we'll hide in Kurama's territory. People are still scared to go there." Hana told him.

"Why?"

"Cause Kurama was terrifying before he got corrupted by humans. At least, that's what Hiei says. He says that humans tainted Kurama by showing him how to love."

He wasn't comfortable with the whole thing but Shippo knew full well that he had to trust his sister's instincts about things and her knowledge regarding the world. Nodding slightly, he quickly caught up and walked beside her in the world where blood and death filled the air.

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lostmoonchild: Bye-bye chapter nine! This story is honestly the one that has the least amount of chapters that I'm working on right now. Oh well, at least it'll be going until I decide that I'm sick and tired of it and end it. What will happen next in the next instillation of "Still Waiting?" Believe me, I don't know yet but I'll probably come up with something so be sure to read and review!!


	11. Chapter 10

lostmoonchild: Needless to say that this is another chapter for you guys to check out. It's cloudy and looking like rain here in central South Dakota so I'm seriously debating whether or not we're going riding tonight. Went riding a few days ago with my brother's girlfriend and we've agreed that going to a trail ride in late August or early September would be awesome. When we weren't discussing going on a trail ride we were discussing anime.

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Inuyasha so don't sue me.

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Chapter Ten

-------Yusuke's POV-------

The women in the family are forces to be feared by all living creatures. I mean, they are to be feared more than the wrath of any god alive. When they were pissed off at somebody then not even the bravest man in the world dared to challenge them. They would always run in the opposite direction or wait until they settled down before challenging them. That's how scary they are and I'm not dumb enough to pick any fights with any of the women in the family unless they're happy.

People complained about me since I was the delinquent. I always got into fights, I rarely went school, and I stole stuff. Put Kagome in the picture, then I really was the picture of delinquency.

At least that was until people saw Kagome pissed off and then she was put next to me. Then I was the poster child of troubled youth. Kagome? She was the damn poster child for women who kill. When you lose her forgiveness, you're basically screwed seven ways to hell.

Auntie had a chance to get Hana back. Kagome had been willing to give our aunt a chance at redeeming herself but she had managed to screw that up. Now one cousin was missing and the other one was clearly planning the best way to kill without getting caught.

Kagome was right. Our family has a record for having less than noble people in it and the only way our family seems to be redeemed is the fact that there are priests. With all of the molestation accusations that the Catholic church seems to be going through with their priests, I can't help but wonder if that's a good thing. Sure, none of us are Catholic but priests seem to be getting a bad rep due to the whole molesting kids.

As I glance around the room, I can see that my cousin's friends and Inuyasha and look worried. Clearly they've seen this fury in her eyes before and from the look in our aunt's eyes, she never has. "Where are the kids." Kagome questions, each word laced with venom.

Oh yeah. Kagome's seriously pissed. There's always a telltale sign that she's pissed and when venom's laced in with each word then you know she's reaching the point that she doesn't give a damn about what happens to her. All that really matters when she reaches that point is that she gets to take revenge upon the bastard that had done something to offend her.

I wonder how many times Inuaysha's reached that point. Surely he hasn't done anything to keep her from forgiving him seeing as she let him between her legs and they had kids together. Now when it came to reaching that point of no forgiveness, I just wonder how many times he's actually gotten pretty damn close to it.

Kikyo, sure, I could see her reaching that point since Kagome got pretty damn protective over Inuyasha. Watching Kikyo attempt to drag Inuyasha to hell surely didn't suit Kagome very well. Maybe the walking corpse being put back in her grave had been a good thing to begin with. Spare Kagome the effort of actually having to think up a plan that would make Kikyo go away forever.

Auntie doesn't say anything for a moment, allowing the tears to continue to fall. Even I can tell that she's crying just because her damn husband took off and left her behind. "I don't know!" Auntie says finally. Her voice fills with desperation. "Please, I didn't know that he was going to hurt them. My little girl screamed so much…"

If she's trying to play on some small amount of sympathy then she's out of luck. None of us have any sympathy to waste on her. She knew what was going on and she clearly chose to stay with her new husband instead of helping the children escape while they all were unharmed.

I touched Kagome's shoulder, her furious eyes piercing into my own. _"I'll take over from here,"_ I silently tell her.

Kagome stares at me for a moment and I wonder if I have to say it out loud. Before I can vocalize my words, she nods slightly. _"Can we blame a demon for killing her? We can tell Mama and Aunt Atsuko that a demon killed her."_ Kagome replies with a curious look.

I shake my head and Kagome frowns. She obviously wants to kill Auntie for what happened to the kids but we need Auntie alive. Besides, if the Reikai found out that we had killed our own Aunt when we were considered to no longer be human then we would face the same punishment that demons who killed humans received.

A look of understanding crossed her features and she nodded slightly in understanding. How long did it take for people to develop this kind of communication? I knew that Hiei and Kurama had the same kind of thing but most of it was telepathic.

Auntie looks at us with a pleading look before saying, "Don't hurt my husband. Please don't hurt my husband."

Why is she pleading for him? Doesn't she care that he had let some freak take off her daughter's finger? Doesn't she care that he had been torturing those kids? Why in the hell was she a mother if she didn't care about what was happening to her down daughter? Even my mother, who had been an alcoholic for practically my entire childhood, had been a better mother than my aunt was proving herself to be right now. Every time she opened her mouth, there was another reason to the list why she wouldn't ever have Hana back again. Maybe she should take a page out of Kuwabara's book and keep her damn mouth shut to avoid looking stupid.

Anger flashes in Kagome's eyes and I know we're thinking the same thing. The bar was high for her since her mother had been one hell of a mother and my mother hadn't quite met Kagome's mother in the parenting department but our aunt had simply fallen off of the damn parental map. Maybe some parents were terrible parents but they probably tried like hell for their kids. "Yusuke. Kagome. Please don't hurt him." Auntie says again.

"She hurt Hana, Auntie." Kagome tells her softly. "Hana's one of my kids. I don't forgive anybody who hurts my child."

Inuyasha, you chose one hell of a woman to be your wife. That's all I really have to say about that particular subject. When this is over and done with, you and I are going out for a drink and we're getting totally shit faced.

----------End POV----------

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lostmoonchild: Okay, I couldn't resist doing Yusuke's POV. I love him dearly and felt that he needed a chance to shine with his thoughts. Anyway, I've got this done about twenty five minutes before I need to get to babysitting so have fun and leave a review. Seriously, let me know if you like it, love it, hate it, or just want to see another chapter with someone's POV.


	12. Chapter 11

lostmoonchild: Another chapter up and ready. I think that this one will be a happy chapter since the last chapters have been all serious and crap. Thankfully I got this chapter written down in a notebook before we went bareback riding. Since I got the skittish horse, I spent about ten minute singing to her and a few minute saying, "Come on, Tater! We can get up this dumb hill. You can do it!" then switched over to "Good job, Tater! Such a good girl." And yes, we did name one of the horses Tater since she has the same coloring as a freaking potato.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or YYH so no suing me. I swallow my pride enough to admit that I don't own either show so do me a favor and don't sue me.

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Chapter Eleven

He didn't know who these people were but he was safely assuming that they were friends of Yusuke's. There were four of them and while the one that stunk of alcohol was trying to reassure them that their captors would pay for what they had done, the feminine looking ice master was tending to Hana's now infected wound.

Shippo eyed the blue-eyed demon that was talking quickly before turning his attention to the fussing toddlers. "Jin, can you tell everybody where we are?" Hana questioned quietly. "Everybody must be so worried about us. I don't know how long we've been missing but I know they're worried about us."

"Aye, that I can do. A lovely rose and hardy fellas speak louder on the wind than in silence." Jin told her before taking off.

"That made no sense." Shippo informed his sister with a raised eyebrow. If she understood what the wind master had said, then he would be surprised.

"All we had to do was ask and he would have gone sooner to get Mama and the others." Hana flinched in pain. "That hurts, Touya."

Touya looked at her with a calm look in his eyes for a moment before answering calmly as he numbed her hand, "It'll hurt more to have your whole hand removed so stay still."

Hana's eyes widened slightly, knowing full well that they'd either numb her whole arm completely or they'd be kind and knock her unconscious. Either way she didn't want to face losing her hand. Taking a deep breath, the preteen braced herself for the pain she was absolutely certain would come. "Do your worst," she said before biting back the screams of pain as the ice master began his work.

"You're serious? The kids are with Touya and the others?" There was hope in Kagome's eyes as she looked at the wind master.

"Aye, that they be." Jin told the miko with a big grin on his face. "Cuter than lambs they be."

"They're okay, right?" Inuyasha demanded. "The kids are all okay? They all still have a pulse? Just how many kids were there?"

Jin stared at Inuyasha for a moment before answering, "Five tykes and a fox demon plus Hana."

Sango and Miroku breathed a sigh of relief as they listened to the quick talking wind master. Despite having to stop and slow down what he was saying, they were relieved at the news. The children were all okay. Well, excluding Hana's severed finger. Their children were all okay and they would all be reunited before too long.

A smile spread across Inuyasha's face as he saw the happiness on his mate's face. "Well," said Yusuke, "what the hell are we waiting fore? Let's go pick up some kids."

[][][][][][][][][][][][]

At first, Hana had been convinced that she was dreaming. She hadn't dared to allow herself the hope that their families had finally come. When she picked up Kagome's scent, she knew that this was reality. Her mind was unable to fully match Kagome's scent in her dreams. Reality was no problem since she recognized the scent, but in her dreams she couldn't match it completely.

Sobs of relief left Hana's lips as she hugged everybody as tightly as she could. "Naraku's alive!" Shippo told them when they had all settled down.

"Karasu too!" Hana added as she looked at Kurama.

Yusuke took Hana into his arms and hugged her tightly. "We know, sweetheart. We even know who took you." Yusuke told her.

"_Don't tell her,"_ warned Kagome's eyes.

Hana wrapped her arms and legs around Yusuke, careful to avoid hitting her hand. "Momma was in on it. Her new husband doesn't like me. He has Daddy's eyes," she told them as tears began to gather in her eyes and spill down her cheeks. "Why doesn't she fall in love with someonee that wants me too? Why can't she make a good choice?"

"_I've got it," _Yusuke's eyes told the miko when she got up. Aloud he answered, "Because people like dumping on our family. We're filled to the brim with shit that most of the world's population would be ashamed of and we use that shit to help us survive in the world."

"No, we don't."

"Liars. Shit, if Kags and I weren't such good liars we would have gotten killed years ago. I mean, some of the shit we've lied about is so bad that even King Enma himself would come to our executions just to make sure that we're dead. Then he'd turn around and make sure that our souls were destroyed so we couldn't get reincarnated. Thieves in the family ripped off those old documents at the shrine before some jackass could burn them. Shit, we had this one ancestor that ripped off some big, bad curse or whatever and it's locked away somewhere that not even Kags could get her damn hands on it."

"Murderers. Someone tries to get one of us chucked in jail, the offending party has an "accident" that results in their death. Saved our family plenty of grief throughout the centuries. Whores made the whole damn family stronger since they picked the qualities from the guys that they liked. Didn't reflect well on the women but the kids usually had interesting qualities."

"Demons gave us our fight."

"Priests provided us with a decent sense of right and wrong. Not that we listen to it very often."

For a moment it sounded like they were actually promoting everything and disagreeing, but the group realized that the cousins were trying to explain to Hana what made their family the way it was. Everything that people frowned upon for centuries, their family had turned into a blessing that helped them survive in an unforgiving world. "Your momma just doesn't know how to use our family's shit to her advantage and manages to attract those jackasses as a result." Yusuke told her gently. "That's all it really is."

"Promise?" There was a wary look in Hana's eyes as she looked at her older cousin.

"Hell yeah. I mean, look at Kags if you want a living example. She dated an ex-thief and married a cheater." Yusuke laughed. "If that ain't poor taste then I don't know what is."

Looking at her family, Hana couldn't help but smile at the irritated look on Kagome's face. This was her family and nothing was going to change it. Not Naraku, nothing.

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lostmoonchild: Okay, the chapter's on the computer where it'll stay until the end of the story. After the story's done, the folder that's in it is going in the trash. Read and review, flames will be accepted! Since my little cousin blew up my grandmother's computer, I'll be updating whenever I get to a decent computer.


	13. Chapter 12

lostmoonchild: The wind's blowing pretty good so me thinks that Jin's having some fun right now. A week or two ago we had winds that got high enough that signs actually broke and quite a few roofs lost shingles so maybe that one was Kagura's doing. Right now I'm hoping that the wind doesn't get that high again and if it does, I'm not going to be a happy camper cause then I'll have to get on the roof again and help fix it. Again.

Disclaimer: YYH not mine. Inuyasha not mine. What's mine is mine and nothing else.

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Chapter Twelve

They were trying to figure out where Naraku and Karasu could have taken off to but they had no clues. All they knew what that their aunt's new husband was behind everything and Where he would have taken two escapees was a mystery that needed to be solved quickly.

None of them even knew why he had chosen Naraku and Karasu or even how he managed to open hell. Why choose two guys that couldn't be trusted? Had they been picked for their abilities in escaping and demolition? How had they been picked and how in the world could they have escaped hell? Didn't the Reikai keep tabs on the ones that could break through dimensions without much effort?

Hana and Shippo sat with the adults, listening quietly to their discussion. The toddlers were all sleeping peacefully in the next room, each of them steadily forgetting about what had happened. They were safe now that their parents were with them. They didn't need to be afraid of anybody since they had people to protect them from harm. There was no need to remember what had happened and if there was anything that triggered a memory, it would be one of those memories that was just out of reach or a memory that was so fuzzy, it couldn't be trusted anymore.

It must have been nice to be a toddler. They forgot things easily if they weren't reminded but even then details got fuzzy. The only thing that they really seemed to remember were daily routines since children got upset if a routine was suddenly changed without any warning. Things that they learned to do was kept locked away within their memories but experiences and the memories created through the experiences were forgotten.

The two were old enough to remember. Hana and Shippo both knew that they would remember what happened even if the memories did fade. There would always be something that would trigger the memories. Sights, scents, feeling… all of those would remind them of what had happened.

Hana was silent as she looked at her hand. They were all at Genkai's place now, discussing what they thought was going on while the Reikai scrambled to figure out what was going on. When Yukina had seen her hand, tears had gathered in the koorime's eyes before she healed the preteen's hand. Shippo had been thrilled to see that there was place that didn't stink to high heaven and even Inuyasha looked relieved. Clearly he was one of the ones that despised the city.

Her eyes flickered over to Kurama, listening silently as he talked. "Remember, Naraku was known throughout Japan five hundred years ago by the demon community. Any demon that had ever been in the area he decided to reside in knew it." Kurama reminded them. "He was even known in the Makai."

Yeah, he would have known that one. Kurama was over a thousand years old so how could he not know Naraku's name and reputation? She was even willing to bet that he had even considered stealing the Shikon no Tama at some point in time. "Okay, Naraku I can understand but why Karasu? I mean, the guy was good at making his own energy into bombs."

"That's probably why he was chosen, Yusuke." Kagome told her cousin. "Think about it. If you were going to pull something off, would you rather have a guy that's known for escaping and another guy that can blow stuff up with just his energy or would you rather just go with a bunch of idiots that doesn't know a damn thing?"

"But where would they have gone?" Miroku questioned. "From how you all have described the Makai, it's quite large. The deeper in you go, the stronger the demons."

Hiei's eyes narrowed slightly. "They would be fools." Hiei stated calmly. "A half breed and an insignificant whelp that barely beat Kurama hardly would make the best companions for any heist."

Yusuke and Kagome looked at each other, their eyes holding yet another conversation. This time, it looked to be quiet serious and clearly it was regarding something that they both frowned upon. "You don't think…" Yusuke trailed off.

"It'd make sense."

"But why do what Toguro did?"

"It's logical, Yusuke." Kagome grabbed a piece of paper and began writing quickly. "Think back five hundred years. Naraku absorbed demons to make himself stronger. Four or five hundred years later, the technique is perfected. You want to be a demon? Go to the right person."

Kurama's eyes lit up in realization at Kagome's words. He was fairly certain that he understood what it was that Kagome and Yusuke were getting at now. Yusuke may have been a lucky fool but if Kagome was put next to him then their minds worked as one and they almost became geniuses. "You think that your aunt's husband could want to become a demon." Kurama said with a surprised look.

"It'd make sense. Naraku's a master at escape and can change his form at will. Karasu detonates his own spirit energy. Combine the two with a human that can open portals with hardly any effort and manages to avoid getting caught, you've basically got the perfect creation."

Hiei frowned. "You're creating a weakling." Hiei stated calmly. "Humans are weak creatures. Combine a half demon as well as a full demon, you're not creating a fighter that's very strong. The human part will hold down one's true potential."

"Maybe, but would you honestly say that after dealing with us for as long as you have?"

"Hn."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome divided their best traits into a single thing. "Money buys a lot of things." Yusuke said, remembering the Dark Tournament. "Auntie did say that he was rich."

"Right. So let's assume that he's paying somebody to make him into a demon. Where would you go in the Makai?"

Hiei's eyes narrowed. "I know," he told them. "There are numerous places in the Makai where one could get anything done to them but only a few of them even bother serving humans."

"But something tells me that Naraku and Karasu wouldn't willingly agree to this sort of thing." Inuyasha told them. "Why in the hell would they agree to becoming part of a human?"

"They wouldn't if they knew what he had planned." Kurama answered.

"Guys," Kagome said with a look that she thought she was insane, "we might actually have to save the bad guys from another bad guy."

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lostmoonchild: I don't know why but I'm actually thinking "Lullaby for a Stormy Night" by Vienna Teng. Why I'm thinking of that song, I don't know. I'm not listening to any music right now since I have my iPod charging. My computer doesn't have anything I can plug it into so it's charging in the wall. Anyway, read and review, we'll see what happens next week!


	14. Chapter 13

lostmoonchild: Here's another wonderful chapter for you guys.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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Chapter Thirteen

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Whoever came up with that idea was probably someone that was familiar with battles or something along those lines. Maybe that person had been familiar with betrayal. Then again, maybe that person had once had two enemies that joined forces to fight against them.

She actually kind of wondered why people thought along those lines when faced with challenges like that. Maybe it was better to join forces with one's enemy to defeat a common enemy. If that was the case, then she seriously hoped that somebody didn't get any bright ideas to nuke a place just because two countries agreed that another country was a common enemy.

All that really mattered to her at the moment was that she needed to do something to protect her family and friends. If they were right, if her aunt's new husband was selecting demons to make him into a demon, then everybody that she loved was in danger.

It was the whole mess with Naraku all over again. This time, she didn't know what to do since business dealings in the Makai weren't usually recorded or anything like that. Money wasn't always exchanged but there was always something that got a person what they wanted.

Kagome was silent as she stared up at the night sky, watching the stars above blinking to her as if trying to reassure her that they were going to be doing the right thing. It had been two years since she had last had faith in the Reikai. It was amazing what her discovery of what they were doing to the lower-class demons had done when it came to her willingness to be associated with the Reikai.

The Reikai had wanted to kill Yusuke for being Muzaku, that much she remembered clearly. Then it had gotten revealed some time later that the Reikai was controlling the lower-class demons and forcing them to cause trouble in the human world. Six months ago, she had severed any and all ties with the Reikai in favor of distancing herself from the things that was going on.

She was still a miko, but could a miko truly be a miko when she no longer wished to be connected with the spirit world? Someday she'd probably be hunted down and killed for whatever crimes that they felt that she ha done. Had Kikyo discovered the truth before her death and had Naraku been weak enough for them to control him? Was it the Reikai that was truly behind Kikyo's death and Inuyasha being pinned against the God Tree for fifty years? Had Naraku truly been innocent but when their control over him had been relinquished, his true desires for death and chaos were completely his?

A sigh left Kagome's lips as she wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't know the answers to her questions and she didn't know who to ask. Where did a miko that had no apparent faith to speak of go for answers when she knew she couldn't ask a priest or anybody that associated themselves with the Reikai?

As she laid down on the soft grass, Kagome continued to stare up at the dark sky above. It wasn't a question of if she would be hunted down and killed, it was a question of who would kill her and when they'd find her. She lived in the Feudal Era with Inuyasha and their children so that left a five hundred year timeframe. If she hadn't been killed within the five hundred year time period then there was the time after that.

Then there was the question of what would happen to her children. Would they all be killed just because she was a priestess and their father was a hanyou? Would they be overlooked or not? She knew that she was a hanyou too but trivial things like that hadn't gotten very far before so there was no real reason to think that such things would get anywhere now.

Yusuke would be blamed so he would probably be killed the first chance that the Reikai got. King Enma really didn't care for him for some lame reason but she supposed that it had something to do with Raizen sleeping with a Buddhist priestess and getting her pregnant. She supposed that he had gotten rather pissed about that.

Her dying in childbirth hadn't meant anything seeing as the child that she carried had lived to have children of its own and its child or children had children of their own. That cycle continued for centuries until now. Of course, she couldn't forget that Raizen had courted the woman for a while and that she had tended to his injuries when they first met.

Why in the hell couldn't life be simple? Whatever happened to "live and let live" that people felt the need to kill or torment anybody who didn't fit in with whatever standards there were? She knew people that were still screaming how a guy liking a guy or a girl liking a girl was disgusting. So what if members of the same sex had a sexual attraction to each other? It wasn't like they were hurting anybody even though she did suppose that some religious groups considered them to be corrupted by evil or something.

What was the difference between a priest or a priestess having a demon or hanyou lover compared to a regular human having a demon or hanyou as a lover? While she personally didn't see the problem, she supposed that perhaps there was a difference somewhere.

Deciding that she'd figure everything out in the morning, Kagome got up and wandered back inside to her mate.

Seven places and none of them had seen anybody that wanted to become a demon. The last place that they had gone to, both Kagome and Sango had gotten hit on. "Well," Yusuke commented as he looked at Inuyasha and Miroku with an amused expression, "you two at least know that your wives are hot enough for common sense to take a vacation."

"Yeah, that's why you're such an idiot." Kagome shot back at her cousin. "Your common sense went on vacation and hasn't come back yet."

"Says the one that counted as jail bait."

"Hey, you would have done well as somebody's bitch in jail if somebody had been brave enough to throw your ass in."

Yusuke grinned. "That a suggestion?" Yusuke questioned.

"Incase you've forgotten, Urameshi, my husband is still irritated from that last guy and Keiko-chan would surely kill you if Inuyasha didn't."

Someday they'd figure out how in the world those two managed to have conversations that appeared to be arguments and insults. "Okay so where in the hell is the next one?" Inuyasha demanded. "If this bastard wants to use Naraku and this Karasu bastard to become a demon then we're going to hunt him down while he's still weak and kick his ass."

Kurama smiled faintly. "I agree." Kurama said with a small nod. "It would be best to take him down before he gains too much power among the lower class apparitions."

It was when Kurama and Inuyasha got along and actually agreed on a plan that Kagome knew to be afraid. Where Kurama could make plans based on his opponent's strengths and weaknesses, Inuyasha could make plans while charging. Apart they were dangerous enough but when they were together… well, it was just best to avoid those situations.

"Ladies and gents," Yusuke said with a grin an hour later, "we have a winner!"

"What's the problem?" Hiei demanded.

Yusuke hesitated a moment. "Problem is that the son of a bitch took off yesterday."

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lostmoonchild: Okay, seriously guys, you can leave a review. You don't have to sign in or anything and I do have my profanity filter off so feel free to cuss me out.


	15. Chapter 14

lostmoonchild: Another chapter ready to go and I'd like to thank everybody that's left a review. I love reading them and they make me produce more chapters so let's keep them coming.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and YYH don't belong to me. This story does.

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Chapter Fourteen

Were they all okay? Did they manage to find her stepfather before it was too late? She wanted to believe that they had caught him but something told her that they had been too late. That her stepfather had done exactly what he had wanted to do in the first place.

Hana spoke no words as she stared at the group, her eyes solemn. "You didn't catch him." Hana stated calmly.

"Missed him by two lousy hours and we don't know which way he would have gone so we figured that we'd just come back since he'd be driven to get us." Yusuke answered with a small frown that said very clearly that he was irritated.

She went to Yusuke and hugged him tightly. She loved her big cousins greatly and wanted them happy no matter what the cost was. She hated seeing them upset for any reason whatsoever. What her stepfather had done made everybody upset and she didn't like it one bit. As far as she was concerned, her stepfather was going to pay dearly for making everybody upset the way he was doing right now. "You'll catch him." Hana said with a confident look in her eyes.

Kagome and Yusuke looked at each other and smiled. Had they been that confident as kids or had it rubbed off from someone? They supposed that she was confident because of them and had faith that they'd be victorious . "Yeah, you're right. We'll catch the bastard and we'll make him realize why no one pisses off our family."

"Yusuke, it's late and there's a certain girl that needs to be in bed." Kagome warned her cousin.

Inuyasha nodded in agreement and listened to the preteen's complaints. She wasn't a little girl anymore but he knew that she wasn't quite an adult. All she was at the moment, was a little girl that was caught somewhere between childhood and adulthood. "Goodnight, Hana." Inuyasha told the girl.

"Oyasumi."

She didn't sound happy but that was no surprise. She was hitting those hormonal years that Kagome swore was absolute hell. Sure, everyone in the area suffered from the mood swings but it was the one who was going through the changes that suffered too.

If he were to ask Yusuke, Inuyasha was fairly certain that Kagome would make the dark-haired man suffer. Then again, the look on Yusuke's face told him that he had suffered through Kagome's own hormonal changes and that pregnancy hadn't been anything compared to Kagome's. If they were to judge Hana's changes simply by what Yusuke's reactions to Kagome's own changes had been, they were all in for a rough few years.

As they all retreated to their rooms, they each wondered what the effects would be when Karasu and Naraku had been combined into a single individual. Would it be like whenever Naraku had absorbed some demon before or would it be different?

They didn't know and that was probably the one thing that scared them the most.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_She knew this pain and knew that it couldn't be rejected. To reject the pain would be futile. To deny the knowledge that her gut told her would happen was hopeless._

_Tears poured down the little girl's eyes as she screamed, pressing her hands against her eyes. They hurt so much! Why did they hurt like this? Had her father gotten angry at her and decided to hurt her eyes?_

_She screamed and cried, begging for someone to make the pain stop but nobody came. Nobody ever came when she was hurting. They just let her be alone. Nobody loved her enough to come when there was pain._

_When the images of her three older cousins came to mind, the little girl kept crying. They came to her when she hurt. They made her stop crying. They kissed whatever was hurting and held her against them until she wasn't hurting._

_Why didn't they come? Why didn't they come now that she was hurting? Couldn't they feel her hurting like this? Didn't they love her anymore? Didn't they? Why didn't they love her anymore? What had she done to lose their love?_

_She could feel panic overwhelming her as the questions increased as hysteria began to overcome her. She was good. She hadn't done anything to lose their love. It was hard for her older cousins to stop loving her. "So why aren't they coming?" A cruel voice questioned. "It's because you're disfigured, you know. They stopped loving you because you were too weak to protect yourself from being hurt."_

"_No, that's a lie!"_

"_They'll leave you just like Momma did. Then they'll stand aside and let Daddy hurt you. Kagome won't endanger herself again. She's got babies of her own now."_

"_You're lying!"_

"_So why are you still screaming?"_

_/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\_

"Hana, wake up! Wake up!"

Hana's eyes opened in shock as she looked up at her, seeing one of her cousins looking down at her. Tears gathered in the twelve year old girl's eyes as her eyes ached in memory of what she had been dreaming. "It hurt and nobody came." Hana sobbed as she held onto Kagome. "My eyes were hurting again and you and Yusuke didn't come. Nobody came and my gut said that it would be hopeless to deny what I knew was happening."

Kagome closed her eyes as she rubbed her younger cousin's back, softly kissing her forehead. "Hush now. We're here." Kagome said softly. "It's okay. She just had a nightmare."

She didn't know who her cousin was talking to but she could hear the shuffling as people returned to their rooms. "What'd you dream about?" Yusuke's voice questioned.

"My eyes hurt again and nobody came." Hana sobbed. "I couldn't deny the pain and I knew I couldn't deny what I knew was happening."

Gods, she was trembling so badly. How in the world could they have missed that the preteen hated the idea of being alone in the dark? None of them had thought anything about it before when she was blind and even afterwards they hadn't thought about it. Now they were dealing with the obvious fears of being blinded again and trapped in the dark. "It's okay, sweetie. You're okay." Yusuke cupped the back of the preteen's head and stroked her hair with his thumb. "Come on, you're part of the Urameshi family. We're so tough that we're idiots."

"You'd know that one." Kagome answered with a small smile.

"Bitch."

"Man whore."

"Oh my God!"

"What?"

"You're a cunt."

The barest traces of a smile spread across Hana's face as she listened to the light banter that Kagome and Yusuke shot back and forth. It was always interesting to hear what kind of things they said to each other, They always sounded like they were being mean to each other but it was the best way they knew to express how much they cared about each other. "Kagome? Yusuke?" Hana mumbled.

The two stopped their bickering for a minute to look at her. "What's wrong?" Kagome asked.

"You still love me, right? Even though I'm missing a finger and I'm really just your little cousin?"

The two looked at each other, asking the other who in the hell said something that cruel. "Sweetheart, Yusuke's missing his brain and we still love him." Kagome said gently.

"And Kagome's missing her sense of danger and we still love her." Yusuke answered.

"But I'm not-"

"So? Hana, family isn't just a sense of being blood-related. Family is a word to describe the people that will stick by you no matter what happens. Friends do that, sure, but they reach a point when they're like family." Yusuke told her. "Any jackass that says that we don't love you because you're missing a finger or we're not going to love you just because you're not somebody daughter is an obvious idiot. You are our little cousin-"

"And we love you-"

"And we'll kick the ass of whoever thinks that they can get away with making you feel insecure about shit." The two finished at the same time.

Nodding slightly, Hana laid back down and closed her eyes as her cousins left the room. They were right. Family was a word that described the people that would stick by you no matter what. Friends would do the same thing but it was the few that was like family that truly mattered.

Comforted, she rolled onto her stomach before drifting off into a dreamless sleep, the pain in her eyes forgotten.

* * *

lostmoonchild: Okay, I couldn't help but write that part with Yusuke and Kagome explaining the whole family thing to Hana. I don't know how long this story will go but I do want it to go past twenty. If that's not the will of my muse then so be it. Anyway, read and review, flames will be accepted!


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